Sunday, March 29, 2009

I'm loving all the new American Crafts goodies at the moment. The bright colours and patterns are just gorgeous, the new thickers are fantastic and the buttons are so cute and versatile. I had a little play last night and scrapped this one...

(I also used my Hero Arts Raindrop Background stamp and new Fiskars Apron Lace Border Punch - my new favourite things! The circle flowers are the same as the flowers on the patterned paper strip across the middle - you can't see it very well though.)

The photos were taken last year while we were in Sydney. (It's a park not far from Paul's grandparent's place where Paul used to play as a kid.) Anyway we found it so funny that Madi had a real thing about not getting her hands dirty as she climbed the stairs up to the play equipment. LOL I'm glad I finally got these pics scrapped!

Today Mel and I went to Craftfest here on the Gold Coast. There wasn't all that many scrapping booths there but it was still fun to go and we did manage to pick up a few things. Haven't been to craft show in ages!

Not much else to tell at the moment. We've been busy with all the usual things... nothing too exciting. So... until next time... take care!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

struck our place this week! Well ok... so it wasn't the dreaded lurgy... but it WAS a tummy bug. First Ayden last weekend... then Madi and Riley both came down with it on Thursday. It's been doing the rounds at Ayden's school so it was only a matter of time I guess. I must say though it was NOT fun doing the school run with 2 sick on the same day.... ewwww! Thank goodness it only a lasted 24 hours for each of them. And Paul and I seem ok... I DON'T WANT IT!! (So far so good...)

Earlier in the week I went to the movies with a great bunch of girls to celebrate Mel's birthday (which was actually last week) to see "Confessions of a Shopaholic". So fun to get out together to catch a girlie movie! (It's been SOOO long since I went to the cinema to see anything other than a kid's movie! LOL)

I haven't really done much in the way of scrapping this week... too tired and too much else going on... but I do have a couple of things to share with you.

First of all there's this quick layout I whipped up a couple of weeks ago now and keep forgetting to post. We took the kids to the Ipswich Railway Museum while they had Thomas and his friends there last year. Well... you know that Riley is THE biggest Thomas fan so for him it really was a dream day. He still often talks about it and wants to go back!

And here are the cards I created for the Cuttlebug Card Class I ran at Sunbird Scrapbooking last weekend using the Kaiser Sugar Sugar range...

It's actually been quite fun getting back into a bit of card making again! Still love my scrapping though...LOL

Well.... I can't put it off any longer... the ironing awaits! I know... very boring... but hey no-one else is gonna do it! Hope you're having a more exciting day than I am! LOL

Friday, March 13, 2009

Don't you just love Fridays? I'm looking forward to not having to do the school run in the rain again tomorrow morning that's for sure! :)

I had a bit of a fright this morning when I got up - I went down to the boys' room and noticed Riley wasn't in his bed. I checked the lounge room... not there... checked Madi's room... not there either... ok I started to panic at this point... calling his name and frantically searching the house... and then I found him....

sound asleep under our bed!!! I have no idea how long he'd been there... and surely it couldn't be very comfy under there? Don't kids do the weirdest things sometimes? LOL... I'm hoping he doesn't make this a habit!

Paul's been super busy at work over the past week or so now that he's started his new position... while I've been trying to get used to not working again. So while he's go go go, I'm trying to find some motivation to actually get things done and move out of my bored mood. The rainy weather isn't helping at the moment either! LOL

Riley has had a great time at kindy again this week. I love seeing the look on his face when he presents us with his latest artwork... so proud of himself! We're getting quite a collection on the fridge now! Ayden's been doing really well with his reading and writing homework. He also came home with an award from school today for being very helpful in the classroom and for being a kind friend to everyone! So proud of how he's going at school. Madi's been loving her new Barbie Thumberlina DVD, making up her own songs (so funny), throwing frequent tantrums when she doesn't get her own way... and she has lost my watch somewhere last night! (So frustrating not to have my watch on... I don't know how many times I glanced down at my bare wrist today... grrrr!)

While I've been avoiding anything resembling housework this week ( I know that sounds really bad! LOL), I did actually get a little creative. I signed up for Mardi's first online class (on Kim Archer's site) and got busy. It was such a fun class too! I got 4 layouts done in 4 days and managed to use up lots of scraps and old embellisments that I've had sitting around for ages - it always feels great to use up my stash! Here is what I ended up with...

I love that all the layouts used multiple photos too. It was great to get so many photos scrapped! (Loved the class Mardi! I'm looking forward to your next one!)

I also made a card this week for my beautiful friend who celebrated her birthday yesterday...

Then last night I dragged out my sewing machine to make this journal cover for Paul. (I was so surprised when he actually asked me to make him one for his work diary that he uses every day!!!) So I based it on Janelle'sjournal cover pattern, made a few adjustments to size and added a big pocket around the outside (Paul's request) for his bits and pieces, and here's how it turned out...

He loves it! (It was so hard not to add some buttons or something but of course that would have made it too girlie! LOL)

Wowee this post has turned out to be super long! I think that'll be it from me tonight. Have a fantastic weekend! Hope you've got something fun planned!

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

There are a few things making me happy right now... seeing how well Ayden's doing at school and learning to read, Riley's now loving Kindy and there's no more tears when I drop him off... and Madi's finally started saying her own name yesterday! (She's always referred to herself as 'bubby' until now.) And then there are these little goodies I just got my hands on....

Some of the latest release Hero Arts stamps....I can't wait to start having a play with them! I've become a regular visitor to the Hero Arts blog lately. There are so many cool ideas and there's a new post almost every day if you're looking for inspiration! Check it out if you're interested.

I do have some cards and layouts to share with you today. First up are a set of 3 cards I created using the Kaiser Spirograph paper range and some Stampendous butterfly stamps. It's also the first time I got to use my new Cuttlebug - lots of fun!

Now for a couple of layouts. Both feature pics of Madi so they're quite girly. (Sorry they're not the greatest scans as they're a little lumpy bumpy...)

For the leaves on the 'Sugar & Spice' layout I used the Leafy Branch embossing folder and white cardstock, cut out the embossed image and inked it sage green to match the layout. The butterflies were punched from kraft cardstock and sprayed with some glimmermist.The scalloped edge down the right side of the next layout doesn't actually have anything behind it (the white you can see is my scanner). (I probably should have photographed it instead...LOL) I love these photos of Madi.... can't believe how short those pigtails are!!! Her hair has grown quite a bit since these pics were taken...

That's about it for now. I did get a layout done last night on our visit to the Railway Workshops Thomas day last year but I'll add that one into my next post.